Hello Halo 3!

9/25/2007 4:17 PM PDT

Hello Halo 3!

After months of hype, the "largest entertainment release ever," occurred last night -- with thousands of gamers descending on their local electronics stores in order to purchase Halo 3.

Halo 3's predecessor, Halo 2, brought in $125 million within the first 24 hours of release. Bungie Studios and Microsoft, creators of the Halo franchise, expect to blow that figure out of the home media water. They expect grosses to top even the record weekend film gross of "Spiderman 3" -- $151 million! Analysts predict 4.2 million games will be sold before the end of September.
Halo 3 follows super-soldier Master Chief as he battles for humankind against alien species Covenant and Flood. The first person shooter (FPS) has garnered almost universal praise in pre-release reviews.

The game was the largest selling franchise for the original Xbox, and it's sure to help Microsoft sell more Xbox 360s. Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 is in stores now.